Post by imperfectgolfer on Oct 29, 2019 12:05:39 GMT -5
Consider what Mike Malaska states is the role of the right arm in a full golf swing in the following BeBetterGolf video.
Consider Sergio Garcia's downswing action.
Note that they have an intact LAFW (colored in yellow) where the clubshaft is straight-in-line with the left arm. Note that they have their RFFW (colored in red) vertically aligned so that the right palm can be parallel to their intact LAFW/GFLW and thereby optimally support the weight of the intact LAFW at their end-backswing position.
Mike Malaska expresses two major opinions regarding what the right arm should do in the golf swing. First of all, he states that the right arm should be pushing the clubshaft into impact and he believes that the right forearm should be on-plane with the clubshaft in the late downswing to best accomplish that goal. I can understand the potential reasons for his opinion if his advice refers to a golfer who uses a right arm swinging technique or a TGM hitting technique, but most pro golfers use a TGM swinging technique (lead arm swinging technique) and I do not believe that it is mandatory to have the right forearm on the same plane as the clubshaft during the late downswing if a golfer uses a TGM swinging technique. Secondly, Mike Malaska believes that when the right forearm pushes the clubshaft into impact that it is optional whether to keep the right wrist bent through impact or whether to straighten the right wrist through impact. Mike Malaska opines that straightening the right wrist just before impact allows one to vary the ball flight trajectory by changing the degree of forward shaft lean at impact. So, for example, if one wants to hit the ball with a higher flight trajectory, Mike Malaska states that there should be less forward shaft lean at impact, and he believes that this can best be accomplished by straightening the right wrist in the late downswing just before impact. I believe that this type of hand manipulation technique is sub-optimal because it is too timing-dependent, and I think that using a right wrist straightening technique near impact is too difficult a technique to allow a golfer to be reliably consistent on a swing-by-swing basis as he attempts to perfectly time a right wrist straightening action through impact - where he wants to control the right wrist straightening action with perfect timing and without causing clubface roll secondary to a left wrist circumduction motion happening during the left wrist extension phenomenon that may naturally accompany a right wrist straightening action.
Should the right forearm be on the same plane as the clubshaft during the late downswing and at impact in a golfer who uses a TGM swinging technique? Lynn Blake, a reknown TGM instructor, teaches this TGM-literalist approach. I analysed Lynn Blake's teaching on this issue in the following review paper.
To accomplish the goal of having the right forearm on the same plane as the clubshaft in the later downswing, the following biomechanical conditions must be met-: i) the upper swing center must not sway from side-to-side, or bob up-and-down, in an inconsistent manner during the downswing; ii) the right shoulder must always rotate around a rightwards-tilted spine that consistently has a certain amount of secondary axis tilt and the golfer must avoid acquiring too much right lateral bend that can move the right shoulder off-plane and too close to the ground; iii) the speed of upper torso rotation should be consistent from swing-to-swing so that the right shoulder always gets to the exact same downplane position at impact; iv) the right upper arm must consistently be at the same angle at impact in order to get the right elbow positioned correctly; v) the right elbow must have a consistent degree of bend at impact so that the right forearm's alignment angle relative to the right humerus is also optimally correct (which is biomechanically dependent on a consistent degree of right arm straightening during the late downswing); and vi) the right wrist must be level at impact.
The professional golfer who best accomplishes that TGM-literalist goal is Bryson DeChambeau - as seen in the following capture images.
Image 1 shows Bryson DeChambeau at address. Note that he stands relatively upright. Note that his left arm is outstretched away from his body. I have drawn a red line down the length of his left arm and it shows that there is a small angle between his clubshaft and that red line, which means that he has a small accumulator #3 angle (because he uses a mid-palmar left hand grip). Note that his right forearm is on the same plane as his clubshaft at address.
Image 2 is at P3, image 3 is at P4, image 4 is at P5 and image 5 is at impact. Note that he has a zero-plane shift golf swing and his club goes up, and then comes down, a relatively steep plane that is just below the TSP. Note that he has his shoulders only slightly open at impact and he does not acquire a significant amount of right lateral bend. Note that he keeps his head stationary and his head does not drop in his early downswing - as frequently seen in many PGA tour golfers (like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy) due to increased hip joint and knee joint flexion. Note that his arms are outstretched away from his body at impact to the same degree as it was at address. Note that his right forearm is on the clubshaft plane at impact. Note that Bryson DeChanbeau's right humerus is more outstretched away from his body (compared to Lynn Blake's more vertically-oriented right humerus in his capture images) because his clubshaft is on a steeper plane (due to the smaller accumulator #3 angle secondary to his adoption of a mid-palmar left hand grip).
Bryson DeChambeau is a devoted student of TGM ideology and his zero-plane shift swing is a perfect example of the TGM principles that allow a golfer to biomechanically standardise his golf swing action so that he can consistently get his right forearm on the same plane as the clubshaft at impact.
However, the "real life" reality is that pro golfers have a large variance in the relationship of their right forearm relative to the clubshaft at impact.
Consider these 5 pro golfers at impact.
Image 1 = Alvaro Quiros, image 2 = J.B. Holmes, image 3 = Phil Mickelson, image 4 = Hunter Mahan, and image 5 = Keegan Bradley.
Note that Alvaro Quiros and J. B. Holmes have their right forearm on the same plane as their clubshaft at impact. Note that Phil Mickelson's rear forearm is on a steeper plane than his clubshaft's plane at impact. Note that Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley have their right forearm on a flatter plane than their clubshaft's plane at impact. Note their different body/arm postural alignments at impact. For example, note that Phil Mickelson has a very small spinal bend inclination angle at impact, note his shoulders are relatively square to the ball-target line at impact and note that his rear shoulder is high due to the absence of left lateral bend. By contrast, note that Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley both have a large spinal bend inclination angle at impact, note that they both have a lot of right lateral bend that gets their right shoulder much lower than their left shoulder at impact, and note that their right upper arm is much more vertically aligned and not outstretched at impact (when compared to Phil Mickelson's rear upper arm). Most importantly, note that the right wrist of Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley is markedly ulnarly-deviated at impact.
I stated that Phil Mickelson has his rear forearm on a steeper plane than his clubshaft at impact because he has a very small spinal bend inclination angle at impact, his shoulders are relatively square to the ball-target line at impact and his rear shoulder is high due to the absence of left lateral bend. However, it is possible to have the right forearm on a steeper plane than the clubshaft at impact due to another set of biomechanical/mechnaical reasons.
Note that Sergio Garcia shallowed his clubshaft between P4 and P5.5 so that his clubshaft is roughly on-plane with his right forearm by P5.5 (image 1). However, note that he continues to shallow his clubshaft in an underplane manner in his later downswing after P5.5 - note how his clubshaft moves under his hands between P5.5 (image 2) and P6.5 (image 3) in an underplane manner, and note that his right forearm is on a steeper plane than his clubshaft at impact (image 4) where he has a vertical lead arm and a large accumulator #3 angle. Note that Sergio Garcia's clubshaft is on the hand plane at impact and that he has a low right right shoulder - like Hunter Mahan - but note that his hands are much closer to his thighs at impact due to his vertical lead arm alignment, and that his right forearm is much steeper (relative to the clubshaft) than the right forearm of Hunter Mahan, so he does not need to markedly ulnar-deviate his right wrist (like Hunter Mahan).
Here is another capture image showing how Sergio Garcia's right forearm is on a steeper plane than his clubshaft at impact (which Mike Malaska claims does not happen in pro golfers).
In summary, I don't think that it is mandatory to have the clubshaft on the same plane as the right forearm during the later downswing and at impact - and I think that Mike Malaska is totally wrong to claim that is a mandatory requirement for a skilled golfer who uses a TGM swinging technique.
Mike Malaska also does not mention other roles that the right arm can fruitfully perform during the downswing between P4 and impact, and here is a list of some useful functions that the right arm can perform during the downswing.
1) The right arm and RFFW can support the intact LAFW in an optimal manner at the end-backswing position.
Here are capture images of Tiger Woods and Adam Scott at their end-backswing position.
Note that they have an intact LAFW (colored in yellow) where the clubshaft is straight-in-line with the left arm. Note that they have their RFFW (colored in red) vertically aligned so that the right palm can be parallel to their intact LAFW/GFLW and thereby optimally support the weight of the intact LAFW at their end-backswing position.
2) The right forearm flying wedge (RFFW) can continue to move in an optimal manner between P4 and P6 so that the right palm is always parallel to the plane of motion of the intact LAFW between P4 and P6.
Here are capture images of Ben Hogan's early-mid downswing action.
Note that Ben Hogan maintains an intact LFFW (colored in yellow) between P4 (image 1) and P5.5 (image 5) as he shallows the clubshaft during his early-mid downswing action. Note how he adducts his right arm (colored in green), while simultaneously supinating the right forearm component of his RFFW (colored in red), during his clubshaft-shallowing action so that his right palm can remain continuously parallel to his shallowing clubshaft between P4 and P5.5. During that time period, he can also simultaneously keep his clubshaft continuously on-plane - by using PP#3 (located under his right index finger) to continuously trace the straight-plane-line (= ball-target line).
3) To shallow the clubshaft during the P4 => P5.5 time period, a golfer can use an active "right arm adduction maneuver combined with a right forearm pitch elbow motion" to optimize the clubshaft-shallowing action. That same active "right arm adduction maneuver combined with a right forearm pitch elbow motion" can be used to shape the hand arc path in order to optimize a golfer's ability to maintain lag for longer and to optimise the release of PA#2.
Consider the hand arc path of Dustin Johnson's driver swing and short iron swings.
Note the large difference in hand arc path shape between his driver swing (image 1) and his short iron swing (image 2). The hand arc path shape of his driver swing is well suited to i) maintaining lag for longer by maintaining the "straightish" section of his hand arc path to well below waist level and to ii) releasing PA#2 with greater speed by having a "tight curve" hand arc path between P5.5 and P6.2. Dustin Johnson's active "right arm adduction maneuver combined with a right forearm pitch elbow motion" plays a major role in selectively shaping his hand arc path during the early-mid downswing time period.
4) The right arm straightening action happening between P5.5 and impact can synergistically modulate the timing/speed of left forearm supination required to release PA#3 during the late downswing.
Here are capture images of Cameron Champ's late downswing action.
Image 2 is at P5.5 where his right elbow is very bent and where his right forearm is supinated so that his right palm is under the club handle. Image 3 is at impact - note that he partially straightened his right arm, while simultaneously pronating his right forearm so that his right palm is behind the club handle at impact. While he straightens his right arm, and pronates his right forearm, between P5.5 and impact the base of his right palm can potentially be applying push pressure against PP#1 (which is located over the base of his left thumb) to help him to more smoothly modulate his release of PA#3 (which is primarily due to a left forearm supinatory motion).
5) By maintaining a bent right wrist through impact, a golfer can potentially improve his drive-hold hand release technique.
Here are capture images showing Cameron Champ using a drive-hold hand release action between impact and P7.4 where he maintains an intact LAFW and prevents the clubshaft from bypassing his left arm.
Note how Cameron Champ maintains a bent right wrist between impact (image 1) and P7.4 (image 3) while controllably straightening his right arm. That controlled action potentially allows his right palm to continuously apply push-pressure against PP#1 in such a manner that it can synergistically help him to stabilise his intact LAFW during his early followthrough action's DH-hand release action.
Jeff.